Colonel Gaddafi armed Tuaregs pound Mali

[tabatha]

By ADAM NOSSITER
Published on Sunday 12 February 2012 00:00

IN LIFE, Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi delighted in fomenting insurgency in North African nations to the south of Libya. In death, his legacy continues to fuel unrest.

Hundreds of Tuareg rebels, armed by Gaddafi, have stormed towns in Mali’s northern desert in recent weeks, in one of the most significant aftershocks of Gaddafi’s fall. As he struggled to retain power, the Tuaregs seized sophisticated weaponry before heading back to Mali, where they rekindled a long-standing rebellion which has grown into a major challenge for the impoverished desert nation, allied to America in the fight against the regional al-Qaeda franchise.

The Tuaregs hoisted their rebel flag in northern towns, shelled military installations, announced the “liberation” of the area and shouted “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great”, local officials said. Their sudden strength has shocked a Malian army accustomed to fighting turbaned fighters armed only with Kalashnikovs.

When he was alive, Gaddafi armed rebels in Chad, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/international/colonel_gaddafi_armed_tuaregs_pound_mali_1_2112114

[ellisonz]

1. Gaddafi has an immense amount of blood on his hands. n/t

[Fool Count]

2. Qaddafi is a veritable Mother Teresa in comparison to any randomly chosen US President.

[ellisonz]

3. Yeah, just keep repeating that...

...maybe someday someone who isn't already a "true believer" will buy that hokum.

[Fool Count]

4. Buy? Everyone, except for brainwashed American ignoramuses deprived of access to genuine

sources of information know that already. Why do you think you are so "loved" all over the world?
For your "freedom", no doubt?

[ellisonz]

5. And what sources of information are those...

...please, present your evidence against the dominant interpretation of the main-stream media and human rights organizations that Muammar Gaddafi was a mass-murdering fucktard. Don't just fling bombs, show us what you've got that proves the truth is anything other than what most agree it is, c'mon now.

[nanabugg]

6. how about this for a start?

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/09/16/the-real-reason-the-us-wanted-gaddafi-gone/

[ellisonz]

7. Not a compelling argument.

Doesn't address the issue of whether or not Gaddafi was a mass-murderer but rather tries to make the typical argument against intervention in any comment. Sometimes I wonder, if we had intervened in Rwanda in 1994 if author's such as this one would make the same argument against intervention. Describes Gaddafi as a "brutal dictator," and repeatedly describes the Libyan revolutionaries as "boys," not a very compelling or thoughtfully written argument IMHO since it tries to make this silly emotional appeal that is based on a counter-factual argument, that non-intervention would have cost less lives. Also, describing Gaddafi as anything other than a pernicious influence for death and dictatorship in Africa is really questionable.

[TheWraith]

11. Your source is an op-ed repeating known lies and propaganda?

Amongst other things, the long-refuted claims that Ghaddafi provided free healthcare and good schooling, neither of which is at all true?

[Robb]

8. I'll not have you speak such lies of Taft in my presence!

Good day to YOU, sir!

[ellisonz]

9. The same could be said of Grover Cleveland.

He was a large jovial sort too.

[EFerrari]

10. The Scotsman, a day late and a fact short, as usual.

INSIGHT: Arms and men out of Libya fortify Mali rebellion

Reuters
By David Lewis and Adama Diarra | Reuters – Fri, Feb 10, 2012

DAKAR/KIDAL, Mali (Reuters) - Equipped with heavy weapons from Muammar Gaddafi's looted arsenals, the Tuareg-led rebels who assaulted the town of Aguelhoc in northern Mali last month overwhelmed the remote garrison.

Fighters hardened by combat in Libya swelled the ranks of the desert insurgents who in their first attack on January 18 surrounded the local army base with machinegun-mounted four-wheel drive vehicles. They destroyed army communications, local cellphone towers and laid down a barrage of mortar fire.

After cutting off water supplies and ambushing resupply convoys, they came back a week later to overrun the base.

"They had the advantage of being more numerous, being better armed and having better logistics, including satellite phones," a Malian government soldier who took part in the fighting told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

http://news.yahoo.com/insight-arms-men-libya-fortify-mali-rebellion-151704710.html

[tabatha]

12. The Tuareg who fought for Gaddafi did not have to loot any weapons -

they were given them, including vehicles and other advanced equipment. And what kind of special weaponry does it take to slit someone's throat.

The Yahoo article has got it wrong - there are numerous reports on this, and this is the only one that mentioned the looting from Gaddafi's arsenal.

What has been mentioned is the looting by the ex-Gaddafi Tuareg fighters in Mali.

Modibo Diaby, a resident of the southern town of Kati, told IPS that he saw numerous businesses belong to Tuaregs – or people believed to be Tuareg – were looted; similar scenes occurred elsewhere in the south. The Malian president, Amadou Toumani Touré, has called on Malians not to confuse the insurgents with Tuareg civilians more generally. “Those who attacked military barracks and other locations in the north must not be conflated with our other compatriots – Tuareg, Arab, Songhai, Peul – who live with us,” said Touré in a televised address on Feb. 1.

And does the fact that the equipment was supposedly looted from Gaddafi turn people into killers, looters, and force 50 thousand people out of their homes? People do not have to use any military equipment to harass other people - ever !

The highlight in your quote seems to apply that because stuff was supposed to have been looted from Gaddafi, turned people into killers.

I guess everyone in the US that has a gun can be excused if they go out and chase 50,000 people from their homes, kill and loot.

EDIT
Forgot link

http://www.newstimeafrica.com/archives/24247

Here is a better description:

Hundreds of Tuareg rebels, heavily armed courtesy of Colonel Qaddafi’s extensive arsenal, have stormed towns in Mali’s northern desert in recent weeks, in one of the most significant regional shock waves to emanate directly from the colonel’s fall.

After fighting for Colonel Qaddafi as he struggled to stay in power, the Tuaregs helped themselves to a considerable quantity of sophisticated weaponry before returning to Mali. When they got here, they reinvigorated a longstanding rebellion and blossomed into a major challenge for this impoverished desert nation, an important American ally against the regional Al Qaeda franchise.

Helped themselves to the arsenal that was already available to them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/world/africa/tuaregs-use-qaddafis-arms-for-rebellion-in-mali.html?pagewanted=all